First World Petro-Politics: The Political Ecology and Governance of Alberta

by Laurie Adkin (Editor)

Overview

First World Petro-Politics examines the vital yet understudied case of a first world petro-state facing related social, ecological, and economic crises in the context of recent critical work on fossil capitalism.

A wide-ranging and richly documented study of Alberta’s political ecology – the relationship between the province’s political and economic institutions and its natural environment – the volume tackles questions about the nature of the political regime, how it has governed, and where its primary fractures have emerged. Its authors examine Alberta’s neo-liberal environmental regulation, institutional adaptation to petro-state imperatives, social movement organizing, Indigenous responses to extractive development, media framing of issues, and corporate strategies to secure social license to operate. Importantly, they also discuss policy alternatives for political democratization and for a transition to a low-carbon economy.

The volume’s conclusions offer a critical examination of petro-state theory, arguing for a comparative and contextual approach to understanding the relationships between dependence on carbon extraction and the nature of political regimes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442699427
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	08/04/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	696
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Laurie E. Adkin is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
List of Tables and Appendices
Preface
Acknowledgments

1 Ecology and Governance in a First World Petro-State
LAURIE E. ADKIN

2 Fossil Capitalism and the Rentier State: Towards a Political Ecology of Alberta’s Oil Economy
ANGELA V. CARTER and ANNA ZALIK

3 Alberta’s Neoliberal Environment
LAURIE E. ADKIN

4 The Ecological and Political Landscapes of Alberta’s Hydrocarbon Economy
MICHAEL S. QUINN, SHELLEY M. ALEXANDER, STEVEN A. KENNETT, BRAD STELFOX, MARY-ELLEN TYLER, NICKIE VLAVIANOS, MONIQUE PASSELAC-ROSS, DANAH DUKE, and NOAH PURVES-SMITH

5 The Petro-Politics of Environmental Regulation in the Tar Sands
ANGELA V. CARTER

6 Turning Up the Heat: Hegemonic Politics in a First World Petro-State
LAURIE E. ADKIN and BRITTANY J. STARES

7 The Alberta Oil/Tar Sands and ‘Mainstream’ Media Framings between Globalization and Polarization
CONNY DAVIDSEN

8 The Gendered and Racialized Subjects of Alberta’s Oil Boomtown
SARA O’SHAUGHNESSY and GÖZE DOG˘U

9 Constructing Participation in the Regulation of Alberta’s Sour Gas
THERESA GARVIN

10 Mobilizing to Address the Impacts of Oil Sands Development: First Nations in Environmental Governance
BRENDA PARLEE

11 Duty to Consult or Licence to Operate? Corporate Social Practice and Industrial Conflict in the Alberta Tar Sands and the Nigerian Niger Delta
ANNA ZALIK

12 ‘All Against the Haul’: The Long Road to the Athabasca Tar Sands
LAURIE E. ADKIN and BENJAMIN COURTEAU

13 In the Path of the Pipeline: Environmental Citizenship, Aboriginal Rights, and the Northern Gateway Pipeline Review
LARISSA STENDIE and LAURIE E. ADKIN

14 Social Movements Scaling Up: Strategies and Opportunities in Opposing the Oil Sands Status Quo
RANDOLPH HALUZA-DELAY and ANGELA V. CARTER/

15 Alberta’s Electricity Future
TIM WEIS, BENJAMIN THIBAULT, and BYRON MILLER

16 Alberta, Fossil Capitalism, and the Political Ecology of Change
LAURIE E. ADKIN and BYRON MILLER

17 Democracy and the Albertan Petro-State
LAURIE E. ADKIN

Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Mike Gismondi

“First World Petro-Politics makes a major contribution to the petro-politics debate. Its use of political ecology perspectives offers a sophisticated, carefully crafted, and incisive analysis that could cause an earthquake in Alberta.”

Michael Watts

What might it mean to explore the global oil and gas complex not from the vantage point of the resource curse afflicting a Nigeria or an Ecuador but through the lens of　 the contested oilfields in the Global North?　 First World Petro-Politics dives headlong into Alberta's tar sands to show that oil and gas at both ends of the world system have striking family resemblances. In this outstanding collection the contributors show how the extraction of bitumen has given rise to local and national struggles including: the survival of Aboriginal communities, the defense of boreal forest habitat and watersheds, the struggles over the urban infrastructural needs of oil boom towns like Fort McMurray, and　 the national and transnational movements toward a low carbon future. The book's admirable commitment to multiple facets of the operations of Big Oil — from racialised and gendered subjectivities on the oilfields, to corporate social responsibility and regulatory politics — offers up a brilliant accounting of the political ecology of Alberta's fossil capitalism.　 First World Petro-Politics is a path-breaking collection.

Editorial Reviews

"While not everyone will agree with the perspective of the authors, anyone interested in a deeper understanding of how fossil fuel resources have shaped Alberta’s environment, culture and especially political life will find a wealth of insight throughout this book."

—George Hoberg, Alberta Views, January/February 2017

‘For those readers interested in the Albertan petro-plays, Adkin's First World Petro-Politics is a must- read. For those uninterested or more likely unaware of Alberta's place in the global hydrocarbon industry, this volume serves notice: pay attention.’

—James B. Johnson, Journal of Political Ecology vol 23:2016

‘This book succeeds in offering many and varied empirically rich chapters that deploy a wide array of analytical lenses and that are based on detailed explorations of different facets of tar sands.’

—Terry Hathaway, Environmental Politics January 2017

" First World Petro-Politics makes a major contribution to the petro-politics debate. Its use of political ecology perspectives offers a sophisticated, carefully crafted, and incisive analysis that could cause an earthquake in Alberta."

—Mike Gismondi, Centre for Social Sciences, Athabasca University

What might it mean to explore the global oil and gas complex not from the vantage point of the resource curse afflicting a Nigeria or an Ecuador but through the lens of　 the contested oilfields in the Global North?　 First World Petro-Politics dives headlong into Alberta’s tar sands to show that oil and gas at both ends of the world system have striking family resemblances. In this outstanding collection the contributors show how the extraction of bitumen has given rise to local and national struggles including: the survival of Aboriginal communities, the defense of boreal forest habitat and watersheds, the struggles over the urban infrastructural needs of oil boom towns like Fort McMurray, and　 the national and transnational movements toward a low carbon future. The book’s admirable commitment to multiple facets of the operations of Big Oil – from racialised and gendered subjectivities on the oilfields, to corporate social responsibility and regulatory politics – offers up a brilliant accounting of the political ecology of Alberta’s fossil capitalism.　 First World Petro-Politics is a path-breaking collection.

—Michael Watts, Class of 63 Professor, University of California, Berkeley

From the Publisher

'This book succeeds in offering many and varied empirically rich chapters that deploy a wide array of analytical lenses and that are based on detailed explorations of different facets of tar sands.'

Environmental Politics January 2017 - Terry Hathaway

"While not everyone will agree with the perspective of the authors, anyone interested in a deeper understanding of how fossil fuel resources have shaped Alberta's environment, culture and especially political life will find a wealth of insight throughout this book."

Alberta Views, January/February 2017 - George Hoberg

'For those readers interested in the Albertan petro-plays, Adkin's First World Petro-Politics is a must- read. For those uninterested or more likely unaware of Alberta's place in the global hydrocarbon industry, this volume serves notice: pay attention.'

Journal of Political Ecology vol 23:2016 - James B. Johnson